U.S. President Donald Trump attended on Wednesday a ceremony to receive the bodies of four U.S. military personnel at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, as they were returned to the United States in coffins draped with the American flag, after being killed in Iranian attacks in the Middle East.

This official ceremony is known as a 'dignified transfer' of remains, and comes amid rising criticism and frustration over the ongoing armed conflict, which has cost American taxpayers at least $37.5 billion so far, and resulted in the deaths of 18 U.S. soldiers.

Trump, wearing a blue suit and red tie, stood at attention near the flight line, saluting as teams of seven soldiers each carried a coffin from the plane in a solemn ceremony.

Trump said before leaving to attend the ceremony: 'We will honor them. It's one of the hardest tasks for me... but it's something that must be done.' When asked what he would say to the families of the fallen, he replied: 'All I can say is: We love you, we love your son.'

According to reports, three of the fallen soldiers—one man and two women—were killed when Iran targeted sleeping quarters at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan with a missile on Friday. They are: Lieutenant Tyler James Vian (25), Sergeant Angel S. Ramprasad (28), and Soldier Isabella Gonzalez (19), all three belonging to the U.S. Army's air defense brigades.

As for the fourth soldier, Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton (30), he was killed in a separate incident on Sunday in Erbil, Iraq, during a controlled detonation of an attack drone.

A U.S. official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, revealed that the number of injured U.S. soldiers had far exceeded 500. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) announced on Monday that 100 service members have been injured since July 7, and that 96% of them have returned to duty.

On the political front, lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties have raised serious questions about the conflict, which has caused oil prices to rise globally, and whose end remains unclear. A Reuters/Ipsos poll indicated that four out of five Americans expect the conflict to be prolonged, while only about 37% of respondents support U.S. military strikes on Iran.

Trump's approval rating has remained near the lowest levels of his political career since the start of the conflict, while Republican strategists warned that rising living costs and fuel prices are undermining the political benefits of his tax cuts, posing an electoral risk for the party ahead of the midterm congressional elections scheduled for November, where it faces the risk of losing its majority in the House of Representatives and possibly control of the Senate.